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Polymorph
: Polymorph is a mage spell that transforms the enemy into a sheep, pig or turtle, removing it from combat. It is the mage's primary crowd control spell, allowing him or his party to focus their efforts elsewhere while the polymorphed target wanders harmlessly for a period of time. Any damage will break the effect, including DoTs. The spell only works on beasts, humanoids (including enemy player characters) and critters. Polymorph will affect creeps up to the advertised duration (20 to 50 seconds depending on spell rank), but players will break out of the transformation after no more than 10 seconds. Polymorph is dispellable as a magic debuff. Certain trinkets also specifically dispel Polymorph effects, such as / . The trainer-taught spell transforms the target into a sheep. At level 60, mages can learn two variations on the polymorph spell. They are functionally the same as Polymorph (Rank 4), with the only difference being the visual transformation. *'Polymorph: Pig' is attainable at level 60 via a quest chain, starting with from Archmage Xylem in Azshara. *'Polymorph: Turtle' is learned from , dropped by Gahz'ranka in Zul'Gurub. The tome does not bind on pickup and can be traded. A polymorphed target is often referred to as a "sheeped" target. Furthermore, "sheep" is often used as a verb; to sheep a target is to polymorph it. Even when using the pig and turtle Polymorph variations, the word sheep is still often used. Talent improvement Arcane Focus reduces the chance Polymorph and other arcane spells are resisted by 10%. Arcane Subtlety will reduce the threat caused by Polymorph by 40% at max rank, though the threat caused by the spell is minimal. Notes This spell works on target types given above, and does NOT work on elementals, demons, undead, or uncategorized ("typeless") creeps. It works just fine against Forsaken players, as they are considered humanoid. While sheeped, the target cannot do anything, but heals at a rapid pace. Mana does not regenerate. Any damage caused to the target causes it to revert to its normal state. The target will also wander across the area randomly in this state. A mage can only have one target polymorphed at a time. If cast on a second target, the first Polymorph breaks. Sheep, Pig, and Turtle all count as a single polymorph effect for each mage, so casting Polymorph: Pig while having a different mob sheeped will break the sheep. In PvP it has the following extra limitations: *It does not work on shapeshifted druids. (However Polymorph DOES work on shamans in Ghost Wolf form.) Druids in their caster form can shapeshift to break the spell instantly. *Polymorph is subject to diminishing returns. Duration displayed on the debuff is capped at 10 seconds against players, then 5 and 3 after subsequent casts. After the 4th cast, the target is immune. After 15 seconds of freedom from Polymorph, the diminishing returns timer resets. *Polymorph has a chance of a heartbeat resist. *Players on flying mounts are immune to polymorph. Tips and tactics The careful use of Polymorph can be tremendously effective in combat against elites. Typically, a Mage will use Polymorph at the beginning of combat, allowing the group to focus on the remaining targets. Because Polymorph heals the target, it is much more effective to use it early in a combat rather than later when the target may have already suffered some damage. It is advised wait with your polymorph until the tank has started the combat, otherwise the mage will have initial aggro of all remaining enemies, which can lead to a quick death especially vs powerful raid elites if the tank does not draw aggro from these mobs fast enough. Polymorph can be reapplied, refreshing the duration, at any time in combat, so it is helpful to always re-sheep before the effect expires. It is more difficult to re-sheep a mob that is running loose (and likely beating on you) than one that is already under control. In group situations, the party leader can use a Raid Target Icon to designate which target to polymorph. This can allow the mage to keep track of where the sheep is during the fight, and can easily tell if the polymorph effect is broken. Wandering sheep can aggro nearby groups when it breaks near them. Using Frostbolt to pull and slow the movement speed of the target to a more favourable location before sheeping will help minimize the chances of this happening. It is also helpful to use Frost Nova to freeze an enemy in place to prevent it from hitting you, then Polymorph it. While you can only have one thing sheeped at a time, it is possible to keep multiple things busy by sheeping one target, switching to and sheeping another, then re-sheeping the first. If you run away a bit between casts, you can hold down 2-3 things at once with this tactic, but you will generate a lot of hate and not be able to assist your party with other targets. Use only in dire emergencies with a very good tank. The pig and turtle variations of the spell are functionally the same as a regular rank 4 Polymorph. However, they can be useful in fights involving multiple mages to distinguish which mage has polymorphed which target. Polymorphing in PvP While Polymorph does regenerate the target's health quickly, it doesn't affect mana in any way. In PvP situations mages can Polymorph then bandage and/or evocate, effectively restarting the fight. Polymorphing a Warrior using a shield and Spell Reflection can also be extremely useful if timed correctly. Rather then have a damaging spell reflected back at the mage, you can essentially sheep yourself benefiting from the healing effect of the spell. Since the duration of Polymorph has been reduced to 10 seconds in PvP and the Rank 1 version of the spell has a maximum duration of 10 seconds. You can save considerably more mana and keep the full benefit of the polymorph. Focus Target & Polymorph Macro Use the Focus target to keep track of your sheep while killing other targets. With some user interface addons, the focus target shows as a separate unit frame. The focus target can be set and regained with macros as well, which helps when it is necessary to resheep a target. This macro combined with the Focus target will make your polymorph hotkey more responsive by allowing you to stop casting your current spell and sheep your focus target without switching your current target. /stopcasting /cast target=focus Polymorph Past changes The duration of Polymorph in PvP has changed several times. Originally, the spell was never guaranteed to last more than 15 seconds and had a chance to periodically break more often. In patch 2.0, the maximum duration for Polymorph was reduced to 12 seconds, and again reduced to 10 seconds in patch 2.2.0. With these last two changes, other class crowd control abilities, such as Sap and Fear were also reduced to the same amount. Category:Mage Abilities Category:Arcane Spells